The International 2016 date announced

Valve has just announced that the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year—the 6th annual International Dota 2 Championship—will take place between August 8th and 13th. The tournament will once again take place in KeyArena in Seattle, with a seating capacity of over 17,000.

Tickets for the event will go on sale beginning at 10 AM on April 7th Seattle time, and offer fans two choices: the Midweek ticket, which gives access for the first 4 days of the event for $ 75; and the Finals ticket, with access to the last two days for $ 100. There will be no VIP tickets this year.

Great news if you’re trying to save money: fans with Midweek-only tickets can still watch the Finals from a free outdoor viewing area around the arena. As always, Dota fans are advised to get their tickets ASAP since they tend to go very quickly – last year’s International tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. Tickets will be available via Ticketmaster at this link.

In addition, Valve has also announced that they will be giving out special prizes to attendees:

As a special bonus to fans attending the event, we will be dropping unique in-game items to audience members inside of the arena. At First Blood in each individual game, 500 exclusive Attendee Treasures will drop, each containing visually-unique versions of this year’s Secret Shop Immortals.

To be eligible, you must have a badge linked to a Steam account and be in the arena when First Blood occurs. We will have more information about linking your SteamID to your badge closer to the event. Linking your badge will allow you to be eligible for unique in-game item drops and other event activities.

Qualifier for the International will start after the Manilla Major, with Open qualifier beginning on June 21st, and Regional Qualifiers on June 25th.